Twirls 'n Curls

Like many of you, we've had plenty of time lately with our furry (and not-so-furry) friends at home, and they've been teaching us a lot. Augie is our good-natured Golden Doodle who is about ten, and Ginger is Amaya's four-month old bearded dragon. (We still technically have a 5th grade class fish named Pancake too, but she's not quite as much fun as the others.) They have definitely helped fill these long summer days, and they both seem to enjoy the extra attention they're receiving... most of the time, anyway. Here are few lessons we've picked up from them along the way, about doing life together at home:  1. Respect each other's boundaries. People often ask me how we've survived the pandemic cooped up with a fairly large family. My motto: "Give 'em grace, and give 'em space!"  2. Go where the fun is. If you're lonely and someone else looks like they're having fun, just join in! (Keeping in mind of course, Rule #1) Boredom ha...

I saw it.... in the way my nine-year old came up beside her sister during the worship service, circled her arm around her sister's waist, and began singing softly.  I heard it.... she was talking cheerfully to a roomful of preschoolers,  "Okay now, in 5 minutes we're going to clean up, and I need you all to help, ok?"   Two minutes later, with strained politeness, she added: "Let's be sure we're talking nicely to each other, ok?!"  I felt it... at 9:00pm, just after I'd tucked her in, when her eyes flew open in panic, "My spelling! I forgot to to my spelling! Mom, I CAN'T turn it in late. I have to do it NOW!"  I flinched, knowing she came by her perfectionism honestly.  The good, the bad, the sweet, the ugly. My girls are mirror images of me and my parenting, with smatterings of my husband thrown in. The way they speak to each other, take care of each other, and leave trails of discarded activities behind so...

S ome Christmas down the road, my towering pine  Will have matching ornaments, all in a line,  And red ribbons cascading down tinsel of gold; But that's some Christmas down the road. O n that same Christmas, my Nativity Scene won't come from Fisher Price,  And no one will ask, "How long till Christmas?" more than once or twice. No fingerprints in my fresh-baked fudge, no meltdowns from sugar overload - But that's for some Christmas down the road. T hat festive season yet to come will hold no reindeer ears  Blocking my view of the Christmas parade, no childish games that end in tears. No holiday parties with tokens or tickets, and no cheap "treasures" bestowed... But that will be Christmas down the road. T his year, I'm holding on to the mistletoe kisses,  My handmade crafts and those batter-smeared faces. I'll take smudges, bad jokes, and a mismatched tree If it means having Christmas again with ...

Dear Nattie, As my youngest, my heart is torn watching you grow up. I love it - and I hate it. I love that you're getting more independent and doing more of those things "the big girls do," And I hate that this means you don't need me as much as you used to.   I love that you're old enough to have your own style - But I hate that it often conflicts with mine (and that of mainstream society!) "Mo-om, I'm ready for school!" So after much thought, I've decided: if you will agree to stay little, just for an extra decade or two - here are some of the perks I can promise you: You will be able to eat all the chocolate you want and never gain weight (trust me, this is a big one!!) You'll never get too big to sleep with your candy cane Christmas blanket, which you've slept with every night since you stole it from Linsey's room as a baby. (she didn't mind!) Additionally, I promise t...

I love, love, LOVE having girls. (more posts on Girl Time here ) I was never much into hair, makeup, or princesses, until I held my own little princess for the first time. I was smitten. She wore nothing but pink and purple for a year, when her white-blond hair was finally long enough for me to make a little ponytail on top with a ribbon. She carried a purse and baby doll wherever she went. Add two more princesses to the mix, and, 7 years later, my life is a flurry of braids, nail polish, and "No, you cannot go out of the house like that"s. Already. One thing I love about having girls is that their soft, nurturing side comes out so often. After our second girl, I decided they needed some "neutral" toys, so we bought matchbox cars. No sooner had I gotten them out of the box than the girls ran to their room and tucked the cars into their beds. "There, there," they said, "aren't they cute?!" I'm pretty sure lullabies ensue...

I love having girls. I love the giggles, I love the baby dolls and Barbies. I love fancy dresses with ruffles. I love getting out makeup and nail polish and doing facials, such as I wrote about here . I even love the hair accessories, to a lesser degree. But more than any of those, today I love that, in homeschooling three little girls, any one of them is likely to walk out of their room at any point of the day looking like this: It's great. Life with my crew is so entertaining, we don't even have television. We don't need it! There is ... bling everywhere we look. They say outrageous things, they do outrageous things - I LOVE raising girls! And laughing at with them. And blogging about them. The other day my oldest said something we found hilarious, and she cried in horror, "MOM!! Do NOT blog about this! Or Facebook it!!" Apparently, I've been found out :)

People often ask me (or more often my husband!) what it's like raising a houseful of girls. So I thought it would be fun to do a few posts about our everyday adventures, called "Girl Time." At the top of my list of fun "girly" things to do are Spa Days. We've been to a "real nail place" once or twice, but usually it's funner - and cheaper - to indulge ourselves at home.   Manicures and pedicures are a must, at least weekly around here.  (Natalie got a little excited about "tainting" her nails while I was working at church...) Our oldest is super creative and is really good at nails. She enjoys helping her sisters with theirs too.     And the girls LOVE it when I let them do a facial mask with me! I love it too, but probably for a different reason. For me, it's a guaranteed 10 minutes of quiet... I tell them the mask only works if they don't talk :)   And that's our Spa Day! What ki...

  "[Let] the little children come unto me, and forbid them not;    for of such is the kingdom of God... "Happy Derthday, Mama!" And he took them up in his arms... and blessed them." Mark 10:14-16    "Lord, may I never forget that You love my children even more than I do.  May I never fail to show them Your love;  and may I never cease to draw on Your strength to do so." ~LK

My youngest, who is 2 1/2, loves to organize. I walked out on our patio one day to find these pint-sized chairs perfectly arranged in a half circle, and that's when it struck me... One day, this is what I'll come home to. Quiet. Order. Vacancy. (Doesn't sound so bad, huh?) No screaming little girls on the trampoline. No giggles from the swingset.   No painting mess on the picnic table. Just empty little chairs - and the memories of what we did in them. This thought inspired me. I have such a short time to influence these precious lives before they go off on their own into the world! And part of their success will be determined by the lessons they learned in these little chairs: hearing Bible stories that teach them to obey God, no matter what; rooting for each other at soccer games; having campfires in our backyard as a family. I wonder, What else do I need to teach them, while they're still in these little chairs? Whenever I see these chairs n...

I had my third little girl 2 years ago, and I feel like I've been running ever since. They say that the transition from two to three kids is the true test of a mother, probably because you have more kids than you have hands. "If you can handle three kids, you can handle a dozen!" they say. I don't know about that, but I'm amazed at the difference in my parenting from #1 to #3. You can call it redefining priorities, or a change of perspective, but I call it survival. For example, My first daughter was allowed to dress up in a designated costume between the hours of 3-5 pm. After her afternoon nap, but before dinner and a bath. I recently peeled my youngest out of not 1, but 3 costumes after 24 consecutive hours of wear. I read all the child training books with #1 and was convinced that 2 year olds should be able to sit quietly and happily beside their busy mothers for several hours, doing nothing. After two very active daughters consistently disproved this the...